Top SA cyclist admits to doping charge

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Cape Town - The South African Institute for Drug-Free
Sport (SAIDS) has charged professional cyclist, Kevin Evans, with doping after
identifying serious irregularities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) - a
profile of the athlete’s blood parameters*.

The SAIDS’s Expert Panel and an independent,
international ABP expert reviewed Evans' blood profile and unanimously
concluded that the profile was indicative of doping.

As per the ABP
regulations, the athlete was afforded an opportunity to provide documented
medical evidence that could explain the irregularities in his blood profile.

Evans accepted the charge of doping and did
not contest the findings.

The ABP is a longitudinal analysis and the suspicious
readings were identified over a period of time therefore the athlete’s results
extending back to March 14, 2014 will be recommended to Cycling SA for
disqualification.

He will be banned from sport for four years as of March
4, 2015. The athlete has indicated that he has retired from professional cycling.

Evans, from Plettenberg Bay, has been one of
South Africa’s foremost mountain bikers in recent years.

He represented his
country at the mountain bike World Championships each year from 2003-2012,
either in the Marathon or Cross Country discipline.

Evans also won the South African National
Marathon Series title for six consecutive years and contested 10 Cape Epics,
finishing on the final overall podium four times.

* WADA has explained the ABP as follows: “The
fundamental principle of the ABP is to monitor selected biological variables
over time that indirectly reveal the effects of doping rather than attempting
to detect the doping substance or method itself,” explains the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In other words, a variety of tests are conducted
over time (longitudinal profile) to establish an individual athlete’s
biological parameters.

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